Unions blast CIR proposal (Omaha Steve's union under fire again)

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.omaha.com/article/20110517/NEWS01/705179937#unions-blast-cir-proposal

Published Tuesday May 17, 2011

By Paul Hammel
WORLD-HERALD BUREAU

LINCOLN — Two of the state’s largest public employee unions gave a hearty thumbs down Monday to a new proposal generated by state business groups to reform the state’s much criticized labor court, the Commission of Industrial Relations.

Officials who represent state K-12 teachers and state employees said the new plan would “eviscerate” collective bargaining and force down public employees’ wages as much as 15 percent.

Karen Kilgarin, a spokeswoman for the Nebraska State Education Association, said the plan would put Nebraska at 49th in the nation in teachers’ salaries.

“Bottom of the barrel,” she said. “Is that really what the governor wants? It’s not what Nebraskans want. They want good teachers in the classroom.”

Julie Dake Abel, the head of the Nebraska Association of Public Employees-American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, said the business-generated proposal would turn public jobs into low-paying, “training” positions with workers gaining experience and quickly moving on to better-paying jobs elsewhere.

“It’s not like most public employees are overpaid,” Dake Abel said. “We have public employees who qualify for Medicaid.”

FULL story at link.